Karnataka gets act together, TN lets Cauvery into sea

CHENNAI: Until early 2018, the lower riparian state of Tamil Nadu waged a pitched battle in the Supreme Court to secure its due share of Cauvery water. It was commonplace for politicians and bureaucrats in Tamil Nadu to plead with their counterparts in Karnataka for even 1tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water. The picture changed entirely in June when nature’s bounty was in full flow, filling Mettur dam multiple times in just two months. As against the stipulated release of 177.25tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu in a year, Karnataka released more than 300tmcft till August. There is heavy inflow into Mettur till date and the public works department (PWD) is unable to close the dam shutters.

Water managers say it is a record of sorts. The previous highest inflow was 180tmcft, recorded between June and August in 2007-08. Given that the full reservoir capacity of Mettur is only 93.47tmcft, much water has been wasted into the Bay of Bengal. Still, Tamil Nadu’s track record of water management is such that farmers in tail-end regions of Pattukottai in Thanjavur, many regions of Nagapattinam and some parts of Trichy continue to crave for Cauvery water to start samba cultivation. Channels connecting to those parts are clogged and there is no sign of water reaching there any time soon.

Should Tamil Nadu have constructed multiple check dams and barrages to save the runoff? PWD engineer-in-chief M Bhakthavathsalam said the government could not build major reservoirs in the absence of any hilly region below Mettur. "We can have check dams, but the capacity will be very less. Cauvery is mainly used for irrigation and should be allowed to flow till the end. We do build bed dams. In Coleroon, we will soon build a barrage connecting Athanur in Cuddalore and Kumaramangalam in Nagapattinam at Rs450 crore," he said. Experts said intra-linking of the Cauvery and Gundar could help tap much of the flood water, but the proposal for phase I of the project is still in the works. While Tamil Nadu mulls over its projects, Karnataka is working overtime to revive the jinxed Rs5,912 crore Mekedatu dam project. Sources in the ministry of water resources said the H D Kumaraswamy government recently submitted a feasibility report — Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project with an installed power generation capacity of 400MW — to the Central Water Commission. The CWC will examine the design, inter-state issues, hydrological parameters and cost and the power generation component will be studied by the Central Electricity Authority. Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments were informed of the report last week, said sources.

On August 24, CWC’s project appraisal directorate invited comments from various wings including the Central Electricity Authority. The Karnataka government will make a presentation to appraise the project shortly, which will be attended by the representatives of TN and Kerala. "Kumaraswamy met Union water resources minister Nitin Gadkari, who agreed to have a joint meeting with chief ministers of TN and Karnataka to arrive at a solution," a ministry official told TOI. CWC chairman S Masood Husain, who is also chairman of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, said the project would be considered by the authority, as it falls in the Cauvery basin. "Unless the CWC examines and comes up with the findings, I am not commenting about the techno-economic feasibility of the project. If Tamil Nadu has any apprehension, let it spell it out. This can be discussed in the authority also. We will deal it as per procedure," Hussain said. Tamil Nadu government officials said they would oppose the project in all forum. In July last year, chief minister Palaniswami had shot off a letter to the then Union water resources minister Uma Bharti, asking her not to give clearance to the project until the matter was settled legally.